Boris Johnson has unveiled plans to reopen England after weeks of Covid-19 lockdown. Despite having one of the highest coronavirus death rates in Europe, the Prime Minister is moving far quicker to ease social-distancing restrictions than his counterparts in Ireland.

Work

During his televised address on Sunday, Mr Johnson urged people who could not work from home to return to work.

This means certain employees, such as construction and manufacturing workers, are returning to work today. The Prime Minster has come in for criticism for asking people to return to work while also asking them to avoid public transport.

In Ireland, construction workers and others who work outdoors will not return to the workforce until next week. There is no mention in the Irish plan for when factory workers should return to work.

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Exercises

From Wednesday in England, people will be encouraged to exercise as often as they wish and be permitted to sunbathe in parks and beaches.

Sports including, tennis, golf and angling are also to be permitted. Similar rules for sport and exercise will be introduced here next week.

One difference is that England is only allowing households to engage in sporting activities while in Ireland, groups of four people can meet to play sports as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines.

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Airport arrivals and quarantine

Mr Johnson decided people arriving into England from Ireland and France will be excluded from quarantine rules.

In Ireland, all passengers arriving from overseas must self-isolate for two weeks. The Government is also in the process of making it mandatory for arrivals to fill in a passenger location form, so authorities can check up on them.

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All-island consensus

Scotland and Wales will not follow the Downing Street plan because they believe it is too early to lift restrictions.

The Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly have been working together behind the scenes on their responses to the virus. However, the Government's decision not to brief leaders in the North on their roadmap caused some tensions.